Cigarette case having a timecontrolled locking means



June 1954 v. c. SHUTTLEWORTH :rm. 2,681,560

CIGARETTE CASE HAVING A TIME-CONTROLLED LOCKING MEANS Filed Jan. 16,1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 W IN VEN TORS @flZd z w MJW ATTORNEYS.

June 1954 v. c. SHUTTLEWORTH ETAL 2,681,550

CIGARETTE CASE HAVING A TIME-CONTROLLED LOCKING MEANS Filed Jan. 16,1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 12 ATTORNEY-S Patented June 22, 1954 CIGARETTE CASEHAVING A TIME- CONTROLLED LOCKING MEANS Vivian Craven Shuttleworth,Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Harry I. Sebert, Glen Ellyn, 111.; said Sebertassignor to said Shuttleworth Application January 16, 1951, Serial No.206,210

5 Claims. (01. 70-273) Our invention relates to a cigarette case havinga time-controlled locking means, and more particularly to such a casewhich is adapted for being carried on the person of the smoker such asin a coat pocket, etc.

It is well-known that the smoking of cigarettes tends to become a fixedhabit, and that for many smokers there is a tendency to progressivelyincrease the number of cigarettes smoked during a given period of timeuntil such smoking becomes excessive and therefore detrimental to thehealth of the smoker. An extreme form of this type of smoking habit issometimes referred to as chain smoking. As will readily be understood,there are widely varying degrees of chain smoking, but the generalcondition is that the smoker tends to light one cigarette after anotherin rather rapid succession. As with any ingrained habit, the act ofreaching for and lighting the next cigarette tends to become automaticand to be carried out without conscious attention. Thus, it is verydifficult for a person who has reached the chain smoking stage todecrease his consumption of cigarettes so long as there is a supply ofcigarettes readily available to him. Studies have indicated as withother types of drug habits that the best method of overcoming chainsmoking is to present a hindrance to smoking which causes the lightingof a cigarette to be a matter of conscious choice, and then to graduallyspace out the smoking of cigarettes over intervals of. time ofincreasing length.

It is therefore an object of our invention to provide a cigarette casewhich will normally remain locked, but which will become unlocked atspaced intervals of time in order that a smoker who desires to decreasethe number of cigarettes smoked will be hindered from automaticallylighting a cigarette without conscious attention. It is a further objectof our invention to provide a cigarette case having a timing mechanismtherein which will cause the lid to be opened at periodic intervalswhile allowing the whole case to be sufliciently compact to be carriedin the pocket. It is another object of our invention to provide a latchstructure for a cigarette case which is normally locked but which can beperiodically opened by a clock-mechanism actuating a camming member. Itis also an object of our invention to provide an adjustment for thecamming member in our cigarette case which will allow the openingmechanism to be set to open the case over varying selected timeintervals, and particularly over evenly spaced time intervals. Furtherobjects and advantages of our invention will appear as the specificationproceeds.

Our invention is shown in an illustrative embodiment in the accompanyingdrawings, in Which- Figure 1 is a perspective View of the exterior of acigarette case or container embodying the mechanism of our invention;Fig. 2, a perspective view similar to Fig. 1 showing the cigarette easepartially open; Fig. 3, a perspective view of the closure or lid whichhouses the clock mechanism showing the latch pin in its closed position;Fig. 4, a fragmentary perspective view of the top portion of thecigarette case to which the closure member shown in Fig. 3 attaches;Fig. 5, a front cross-sectional view taken in elevation on line 5-5 ofFig. 1 showing the clock-operated unlocking mechanism. Fig. 6, adeveloped view of the camming projections affixed to the rotating plateshown in Fig. 5; Fig. '1, a cross-sectional bottom view taken on line !Iof Fig. 5 showing the relationship of the parts of the latch operatingmechanism; Fig. 8, a bottom cross-sectional view taken on line 8-8 ofFig. 5 showing the relationship of the parts of the clock mechanism;Fig. 9, a side crosssectional view taken in elevation on line 9-9 ofFig. 7 showing the means for adjusting the distance between theprojection-bearing plate and the camming member; Fig. 10, a sidecross-sectional view taken in elevation on line Ill-I0 of Fig. '7showing further details of the clock mechanism; and Fig. 11, a sidecross-sectional view taken on line I l-l of Fig. '7 showing the topclosure covering the opening in the case and locked thereto.

In the illustration given, It generally desighates a container or caseproviding a compartment ll therein for storing cigarettes l2. It will beunderstood that case H) can be made in various shapes, but preferablycompartment H is made of sufficient size to receive a package ofcigarettes.

Container I0 is provided with an opening 13 to allow cigarettes to beinserted into or removed from compartment l I. It will be understoodthat opening It can be provided on the sides of container H), as well asat the top asshown. Opening 13 is provided with a cover or liddesignated generally as H. In the illustration given, cover l4 includesa housing [5 which provides a compartment IS in which the unlockingmechanism is contained. In the illustration given, housing l5 extendsdownwardly to provide flanges H with inwardly turned end portions i8which are received within slots l9 when cover 14 is slid onto 3 the topof case it. If desired, cover [4 can be secured to case ill so as tocover and uncover opening 13 as desired by means of hinges, etc. It ispreferred, however, to provide means for securing cover M to case sothat these members can be locked together by a single latch.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 11 a latch 2% is provided for locking lid14 to case it when it is positioned so as to fully close opening it. Inthe embodiment shown, latch 28 comprises a latch member or pin 22depending from the bottom of lid 55 and extending upwardly intocompartment i%. Fig. ii positions latch in closed or locked positionwherein latch pin 22 is in the position shown in Fig. 3. It will beapparent that when latch pin 22 is moved to the right, as shown in Fig.11, that it will be brought into alignment with a recess 2i in the topof the side of case it and thereby allow cover I l to be partially orcompletely removed from case It. Thus, it can be seen that thisarrangement allows means to be provided within housing 55 to shift latchpin 22 from locked to unlocked position as desired. This means will nowbe described.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 5, latch pin 22 extends upwardly intocompartment i6 and is connected to a lever arm 23. Lever arm 23 ispivotally mounted at 2 3 as shown more clearly in Figs. 5 and '7. In theillustration given, a spring 25 is connected to the free end of leverarm 23 so as to normally hold it in latching position. Lever arm 23 isalso provided with a laterally extending camming flange 25.

A rotatably mounted member on plate 2? is mounted so as to rotate belowlever arm 23. In the illustration given, plate 2'! is circular in shapehas radially spaced camming projections 28 extending downwardly from theouter portions thereof. The shape of projections or lugs 28 is shownbest in Fig. 6 where the camming member to the extreme right is the oneapproaching the bottom and coming into engagement as shown in Fig. 7.camming projections will subsequently be de scribed in detail. It willbe noted here, however,

that several of the camming projections 28 are provided with recess 29.

Any suitable camming means can then be provided for causing the spacedprojections 22% to periodically shift lever arm 23 suniciently to movelatch pin 22 to unlatched position. traticn given, there is provided anangular camming member 36, as shown best in Fig. 7. Camming member 3b isrockably mounted on pin 3i. As shown, camming member 38 is shaped toprovide oppositely-disposed camming ends 32 and End 33 is positioned sothat its inner surface just engages the under surface of flange 26 whenlever arm 23 is in latching position. End 32 has its inner surfaceinclined at 3'2 and relatively fiat at 35. Thus, when a projection 28engages inclined surface 34, lever arm 23 will be cammed to unlatchingposition by the rocking of member 2 6, and held in open position whileprojection 23 rides over surface 35.

Rotatably mounted plate 2"! can be driven by any suitable clockmechanism such as the mechanism shown which is designated generally as3%.

Clock mechanism 38 is of a conventional type,

and therefore it is believed that it will not be necessary to describeit herein in 1 detail. As

' shown best in Fig. 5 clock mechanism 36 contains a main spring 3?which is wound by shaft 3% having key 358 attached to the end thereof.Central shaft id is driven through gears by spring 3? In the i1lus- Thefunction of these variously shaped 4 and is maintained at a uniformangular velocity by means of an operable regulating structure, such asthe one shown in Fig. 8. In the illustration given, plate 2? isnaintained directly on shaft es and thereby rotates in synchronism withshaft 53, and thus is maintained at a uniform angular velocity. For mostclock mechanisms and preferably, shaft ll) will make one completerevolution per hour. It will be understood, however, that if as desiredthe angular velocity of shaft all can be varied, or plate 2? can bedriven through gears by timed shaft such as shaft 10.

If desired, shaft 4B can be made to extend upwardly to the top ofhousing i5 and hands attached thereto to provide a conventional clock4!. Also, if desired shaft Ml can be extended below lid i4 so that clock4! can be set.

By the positioning of camming projections 28 at spaced points around theperiphery of plate 21, clock mechanism 36 can be made to open latch 20at predetermined time intervals, while allowing the latch to bemaintained in closed position between these intervals. However, it isdesired to provide a means for varying the length of the intervals oftime during which the cigarette case remains locked, and. particularlyto provide means for gradually increasing the length of these intervals.Therefore, in the illustration shown we provide a means for adjustingthe distance between angular caniming member 38 and plate 2'5. Theparticular adjusting means provided is'shown more clearly in Figs. 5 and9. Pin 3| is equipped with a collar i2 having a spiral ridge or thread43 extending about its outer surface. A rider 44 having an aperturetherein and being interiorly threaded to correspond with threads 43 issecured about collar 42. Pin 3i is then extended below cover i l andequipped with a slotted head or other turning adaptation 45. Thus, whenpin 3! is rotated while camming member 30 remains V stationary, cammingmember 30 will be moved upwardly or downwardly as shown in Figs. 5 and 9and thereby increasing or decreasing the distance between camming member36 and plate 27. In order to hold camming member 30 stationary while pin3| is rotated, there is provided a stop pin 46 as shown best in Fig. 7.

As previously described, camming projections 28 are made of varyinglengths. It can now be seen that the variation in-the position ofcamming member 30 will cause camming member 39 to contact differentcamming projections. In the illustration given, as shown best in Fig. 6I provide six camming projections which allow headed pin 3! tobe'adjusted so that the cigarette case will be unlocked 1, 2, 3, or atimes per hour as desired. These settings are indicated numerically inFig. 3, and diagrammatically in Fig. 6. The dotted lines in Fig. 6designated as a, b, c. and d indicate the four positions of 'cammingmember 35. In one position the camming member 30 will be contacted onlyby extreme righthand projection 28 which is the longest of theprojections, and is shown approaching end portion 32 in Fig. 7. Whencamming member 39 is adjusted to lie in the plain of-line b, it can beseen that the camming member will be contacted not only by the cammingprojection to the extreme right but also by the central cammingprojection. Similarly, when camming member 39 lies in the plain of line0, it will be engaged by all of the camming members extending downwardlythat far except the central camming member, as shown'in Fig. 6 which isprovided with a recess 29, so that the case will be opened only atuniformly spaced intervals. Finally, when camming member 30 lies in theplain of line 6! it will contact four of the projections as indicated,but will not engage the two L-shaped cam members which are also providedwith recess 29.

If desired lever arm 23 can be provided with an outward extension 41extending through a suitable slot in a wall of housing [5 by which latch28 can be opened if it is desired to do so without waiting for theoperation of the clock mechanism.

Operation In operating a cigarette dispenser of the type shown,cigarettes are first placed within compartment II as shown in Fig. 2,then the spring of the clock mechanism can be wound by key 39, and pin3| can be rotated by means of slotted head 45 to position camming member30 at the desired distance from plate 21. As discussed above, in theillustration shown, this positioning can be made so that latch pin 22will be moved to open position at intervals of 15, 20, 30, or 60 minutesas desired.

Cover It is then slid onto the top of case Ill so as to completely closeopening [3. Lever arm extension 41 can then be used to temporarily movelatch pin 22 to the open position so that it can pass through recess 2I, and when released will move to its locked position because of thetension exerted by spring 25. After having been thus closed and lockedlatch 20 will remain locked for a predetermined time interval which maybe from to 60 minutes in the structure shown.

The particular advantage of the structure shown is that a smoker usingsuch a cigarette case will be aided to overcome a chain smoking habit.This is true because the clock mechanism can be set to unlatch the caseat spaced intervals, which can be increased in duration as de sired. Itis of particular importance in this connection that the structure allowsthe spaced intervals to be uniform at a given setting.

While in the foregoing specification, we have set forth structures ingreat detail for the purpose of illustrating embodiments of ourinvention, it will be understood that such details of structure may bevaried widely by those skilled in the art without departing from ourinvention.

We claim:

1. A cigarette case having a time-controlled locking means, comprising acase providing a compartment therein for storing cigarettes and anopening into said compartment to allow cigarettes to be inserted into orremoved from said compartment, a closure for said opening mounted sothat it can be moved to cover or uncover said opening, a latch securingsaid closure to said case when said closure is in closed position, saidlatch having a latch member movable from locked to unlocked position butbeing normally maintained in locked position, said latch member having ashiftably mounted lever arm connected thereto, a rotatably mountedmember having radially spaced camming projections thereon, a clockmechanism driving said rotatably mounted member at a uniform angularvelocity, and camming means actuated by said spaced projections andthereby actuating said lever arm sufliciently to move said latch memberto unlocked position, whereby cigarettes can be easily removed from saidcase at timed intervals while their removal is hindered during theintervening periods.

the spirit of 2. A cigarette case having a time-controlled lockingmeans, comprising a case providing a compartment therein for storingcigarettes and an opening into said compartment to allow cigarettes tobe inserted into or removed from said compartment, a lid for said casemounted so that it can be moved to cover or uncover said opening, alatch securing said lid to said case when said lid is in closedposition, said latch having a latch pin shiftable from locked tounlocked position but being normally maintained in locked position, apivotally mounted lever arm for actuating said latch pin, a rotatablymounted plate having radially spaced camming projections attachedthereto, a clock mechanism driving said plate at a uniform angularvelocity, and a rockably mounted angular camming member positioned so asto periodically be engaged by said spaced projections and thereby causedto shift said lever arm sufiiciently to move said latch pin to unlockedposition, whereby cigarettes can be removed from said case atpredetermined intervals while their removal is hindered during theintervening periods.

3. A cigarette case having a time-controlled locking means, comprising acase providing a compartment therein for storing cigarettes and anopening into said compartment to allow cigarettes to be inserted into orremoved from said compartment, a closure for said opening mounted sothat it can be moved to cover or uncover said opening, a latch securingsaid closure to said case when said closure is in closed position, saidlatch having a latch member movable from locked to unlocked position butbeing normally maintained in locked position, said latch member having ashiftably mounted lever arm connected thereto, a rotatably mountedmember having radially spaced laterally-extending camming lugs ofvarying lengths attached thereto, a clock mechanism driving saidrotatably mounted member at a uniform angular velocity, and cammingmeans pivotally mounted on an axis transverse to the plane of rotationof said lug equipped member and rotatable about said axis upon beingcontacted by each of said camming lugs and thereby actuating toperiodically shift said lever arm to move said latch member to unlockeposition, said camming means also being shiftably mounted along saidaxis to positions at which it is contacted by less than all of saidcamming lugs, whereby the number of times said lever arm is cammed toopen position per revolution of said projection-bearing member can bevaried.

4. A cigarette case having a time-controlled locking means, comprising acase providing a compartment therein for storing cigarettes and anopening into said compartment to allow cigarettes to be inserted into orremoved from said. compartment, a closure for said opening mounted sothat it can be moved to cover or uncover said opening, a latch securingsaid closure to said case when said closure is in closed position, saidlatch having a latch member movable from locked to unlocked position butbeing normally maintained in locked position, said latch member having ashiftably mounted lever arm connected thereto, a rotatably mounted platehaving radially spaced camming projections of varying lengths extendinglaterally therefrom, a clock mechanism driving said plate at uniformangular velocity, a rcckably mounted angular camming member in offsetparallel alignment with said plate and positioned to engage each of saidprojections and to be rocked thereby, said cammingzmember actuating saidlever arm upon being rocked. by one of said projections and therebymovingsaid latch member to unlocked position, and means for shiftingsaid camming member so as to vary the distance between said cammingmember'and said plate in order that the number. of times said lever armis cammed to open position per revolution of said plate member can bevaried as desired.

, 5. The cigarette case structure of claim 4 in which some of saidcamming projections have a recess therein to permit said camming memberto miss said projections when it is positioned at a certain distancefrom said plate but to engage said camming member when positioned at adifferent distance from said plate, the portions of said projectionsarranged to be engaged by said camming member at the selected distancefrom said plate being spaced at even intervals,

wherebyata given setting of said camming member said case. latch can bemoved to unlocked position only at evenly spaced intervals.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED-STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 580,736 Smith Apr. 13, 1897 2,016,534 Blackwell et a1. Oct. 8,1935 2,415,911 Rubane Feb. 18, 1947 2,456,963 'Leatherman Dec. 21, 19482,613,527 Harris Oct, 14, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date119,785 Switzerland Apr. 16, 1927 122,036 'Austria Mar.:25, 1931 623,325Great Britain May 16, 1949

